An important category of harms that restrictionists claim are sufficient to justify immigration restrictions are economic and fiscal harms. This refers to the effect that immigrants have on the private sector economy as well as the fiscal situation (i.e., government taxes and revenues). Important aspects of this argument are listed below:

• Welfare objection: This is concerned mostly about the fiscal aspects, specifically immigrant use of means-tested welfare benefits, public schools for their children, and emergency medical care.
• Suppression of wages of natives: This is concerned mostly about the interaction between immigrants and native workers in the labor market, and the effect that immigrants have on the market wages and employment opportunities of native workers.